A capacity crowd listens to the speakers at the Hauenstein Center event.

Posted on November 19, 2012

History, current political policy, and cooperation in Washington were hot topics debated by experts at an event hosted by the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies on Nov. 14.

Four experts spoke at the town-hall style event, and each focused on bipartisan statesmanship, including historical references and potential for cooperation in politics today. The speakers also focused on examples relating to former Michigan Sen. Arthur Vandenberg, a well-known politician who had a penchant for solving problems across party lines.

The capacity crowd at Loosemore Auditorium was joined virtually by viewers of a live webcast of the event, which was viewed in dozens of locations from coast to coast, and in foreign countries.

Speakers at the event included Hank Meijer, the authoritative biographer of Arthur Vandenberg; Richard Norton Smith, presidential historian at George Mason University; H.W. Brands, historian at the University of Texas, Austin; and Kiron Skinner, political scientist at Carnegie-Mellon University.

Each of the speakers addressed the audience for about 20 minutes before Hauenstein Center director Gleaves Whitney took questions from the crowd, both in person and online.